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On my way to Mass this morning, I found myself driving behind a little purple car. The car had written all over it, The Phantom Gourmet. After a while following behind it, I began to wonder where it was going.

Then, I thought, "If he's going to Mass, he'll get the best meal he's ever had in his life."

From Thomas Aquinas' Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium

The Word as Flesh makes true bread

into flesh by a wordand the wine becomes the Blood of Christ.And if sense is deficientto strengthen a sincere heartFaith alone suffices.

Once in awhile I surprise myself and write something worthwhile. At least I consider it, worthwhile. My blogging friends and I are sharing our posts over on the blog, This And That And The Other Thing. You might like to see what we've posted. Click on over.

This reading shows Jeremiah doing what he doesn't want to do. He can't help himself. He finds himself preaching because he's compelled to talk about the Lord.

I envy Jeremiah. It's not the job of being a prophet, I envy. It's the certainty that he's doing God's will. I usually find myself doing some boring, distasteful task because I felt "called" to it. I think it's Satan that has duped me.

If so, let Satan laugh at me. My intention was to do God's will, and it's the intention that God considers.

I'm getting ready to drive my niece to college. We're not sure of the way, so I'm going to use the GPS App on my iPhone--WAZE. So we get in the truck. I don't usually drive hubby's truck and I have never had need of using the GPS, in it.

I look around for the cigarette lighter outlet. Outloud, I ask, "Where's the cigarette lighter?"

My "cloistered brothers" and I were talking about greed. How do you tell whether or not you have an inordinate desire to have money or material things? We were thinking a sure way to tell would be whether you cared too much. We were thinking of someone who collects antiques, cars, diamonds, etc. It could be anything.

If a tornado came and destroyed those things that were dear to you, and that devastated you, does that mean you were greedy? Some objected. Some felt that most people would be devastated--the average person would naturally be traumatized. So that example was discarded.

Next was proposed the idea that people who have money and use it to build a library. Now that's a good thing, right? What if they put their name on it, i.e., The John Smith Library? Does that prove that you have avarice? Some felt that was a good example because if the donor wanted to give a library, he would have given it anonymously.

Walked into the house of hallowed ground, a small place of peace in the walls of hell. Where pain has its own story to tell... The gentle voice of everlasting, quietly it sang to me. In that place of darkness "Come Home" was whispered in the wind. give to me your heavy heart and I will give to you a brand new start... With fear, with shame, my spirit's crippled, my soul is lame. It's hard to believe I can be whole again... Speak to me my son. I already know what you've done, step into the light, let the Father's healing light finish what you've just begun... With thanks, with joy, like a child with a brand new toy, I sing and dance, laugh, and shout, be glad for the chance, to hear the Lord of the dance, Whisper in the wind...

My take on Saint John Chrysostom's homily on his Five Paths of Repentance.

All these paths lead to heaven:

(1) Know that you have sinned. If you aren't going to Confession because you can't think of any sins you have committed--that's your first sin! You have dulled your conscience! You are living in a world of excuses. Find an adult examination of conscience for your state in life, and go through it slowly. Here's a pretty thorough examen, http://www.fatima.org/essentials/requests/examconc.asp

Another Fr. Chris homily opener: an elderly lady came out of her house onto her porch every day, twice a day, morning and evening, and praised the Lord. "The Lord is good. All the time. Alleluia!"

This happened every day. Even when an atheist moved in next door, the lady continued praising God. "The Lord is good. All the time. Alleluia!" The atheist complained saying he didn't want to hear it; he was an atheist. The lady just continued.

One day the lady's social security check didn't come. She ran out of food. "Aha" thought the atheist, "Here's my chance to prove to her that there's no God." So he ran out and bought her a generous supply of groceries. The atheist put them on the elderly lady's porch and then he hid in the bushes.

The lady came out to praise God. "The Lord is good. All the time. Look at all this food He has provided. Thank you Lord. Alleluia!"

Have I ever introduced myself? Well, I will now. I'm a grandmother of two, the mother of three adult children, and the wife of a long suffering husband, whom I think of as my "Martha." By "Martha," I am referring to the parable of Martha and Mary. (Luke 10:41-42) Martha does all the work, which makes it easier for Mary to spend her time with Jesus. Hubby used to cook supper while I taught religious education. He baby sat while I went to Lay Dominican Chapter meetings. All in all he puts up with a lot, and I thank God for him, every day. As to why I blog, well since I belong to a family of preachers (Dominicans), blogging is how I preach. My aim is to show how a simple grandmother gives witness. Hopefully, others will be brought a little closer to God.

The Cape has been a second home to me for over forty years. For almost forty years, I have been an admirer of the artist Karen Rinaldo. Karen is known for her Cape Cod scenes, especially Falmouth. This Friday, Falmouth's newspaper, The Enterprise, did a feature on Karen Rinaldo, which I read with great interest. The writer, Theresa Pease did a good job in creating a picture (pun intended) of this local artist. If you need to reference, it's The Enterprise, Friday, August 2014, Page One A and continued onto Page Three A. The article ended with this paragraph,

"My mother was always deeply involved with what I was doing," the artist said, "and when she lost her sight I found that I could use only words to convey to her what I was working on. But before she died she taught me about another whole vision that she called the inner vision. She told me that when I had a problem, or wanted to recall or create something beautiful, I could shut my eyes and find a pa…

In reading Pere Lataste words during a retreat to the women in Cadillac prison, in 1864, I am constantly struck by his words, "I shall be more than your brother...call me 'Father', and I shall call you 'my children.'... There will be established... the most cordial intimacy possible." The good friar is talking about confession. Imagine, having a Confessor like Pere Lataste. Imagine the most cordial intimacy possible. That is sitting with and before Jesus, in that confessional. Bless me Father for I have sinned. And I, so unworthy as a minister of God consecrated to the service of the
altar, vowed for all my life to the absolute privation of all that you have
misused, voluntarily bound by perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and
obedience.Yet I
come to you, without waiting for you to call me. I hold out my hands to you and
I call you my poor, my dear sisters! And that is not just a meaningless phrase;
I am ready to do even more for you. If you have the will a…

Mass Moments reminded me that today was the day the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, MA was completed. P-town is the place where the Pilgrims first landed, after crossing the Atlantic. They were grateful but tired and grouchy. Their captain wrote: Hence The day the ship dropped anchor off Provincetown, concern over "discontented and mutinous speeches" led the leaders to require the 41 free adult men on board to sign a document that later came to be known as the "Mayflower Compact." Although numerous nineteenth-century writers would claim that the Compact was "the germ of American republicanism," it was in fact intended to reinforce "due submission and obedience" rather than establish new democratic liberties.

While the shallop was being repaired, groups of men set out to explore the area on foot. On November 15th, a line of men armed with muskets and swords walked behind Captain Miles Standish into the "wilderness." Soon they saw f…

Polonaise is an excellent book by Piers Paul Read which mimics the Polish dance of the same name. The Polonaise dance is the national dance of
Poland. Poland plays an important part
in the novel. The story starts before
World War II in Poland and ends after the war.
Like the dance, the novel’s characters walk together, bow,
and circle around. The dancers have to
adjust to a change in meter, where there’s a hop into a bow, with a couple of
quick steps as the body straightens out.
Likewise the characters fortunes fall and rise.
The main character is Stefan Kornowski. The reader will see his character develop
into a student, a revolutionary, a writer, a husband, father and widower. There are times the reader will sympathize
with him, but he is so weak, he never becomes what we hope him to be. He is a fallen man.
His sister Krystyna is another important character. She seems to be stronger than Stefan. She is capable, and does what needs to be
done. …

Tee Shirts tell you a lot about a person. I took this picture this morning of my friend, Kevin. I thought it should say, "Retired, now I have time for everybody."

But Kevin's tee shirt reflects his personality. We were talking about the bible sharing we both attend. I asked Kevin why he doesn't go anymore. He told me that it was because it turns into a gab session. Well, that's why I like it. It's casual. I get to share what goes on in my life and ask for prayers, and so do others. Kevin doesn't want to be bothered by prayer requests and he doesn't want to ask for prayers for himself and his dear ones. He feels it's none of anybody's business.

His tee shirt fits his personality, does it not? I'll have to note if all tee shirts do this?

But back to what I did. Actually, I didn't do much. My daughter was having a difficult pregnancy and no one felt like being too far away. Providentially, everything turned out awesome. Monday, my daughter gave birth to a little girl. She had a Caesarean that took the baby three weeks early. Even so, the babe is 7 pounds and 13 ounces!

Outside of visiting the hospital, every day this week, I did post. This is my week:

You know what really convinces me that there really is a God. Life. The unfairness of life is what convinces me. Life sucks. There's war, hunger, poverty, chaos, unfairness, and just the brokenness of mankind. I know some people think that's proof that God doesn't exist, but it's really the opposite. Think about it.

There has to be more. There must be something, or someone, who will even everything out. Otherwise, what hope do we have? If you take away that hope, what's the use of living?

Since today is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, this very scripture was the reading.

She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth....Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth.

The image is really alive for me since my daughter gave birth four days ago. I pray I don't have nightmares.

Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
There is a happy ending. Deo Gratias!

But that dragon is still out there. Don't forget that. Think of all the hostilities all over the world. That dragon has hold and wants to swallow us. But remember, you know the end of the story. He doesn't win. The dragon has been defeated. He still prowls around and makes horrible bellowing noises and crea…

An email from MASS MOMENTS told me that today, August 14th, was the day the protest against the Stamp Act occurred. The Stamp Act was the last unjust tax that the American colonists could stand. This was the last straw. Resentment against England had grown. King George was across the pond and couldn't relate to what was happening in the colonies. The Americans were being taxed to death.

When word spread about this tax on stamps, the resentment grew vocal. People came out of the pubs and met at a certain spot, that came to be known as the Liberty Tree. An effigy of the official who enacted this stamped act was hung on the tree. The tree was an elm and became the place to go whenever the people wanted to rage against the King.
(As an aside, since I'm a Catholic blogger, the practice of hanging an effigy arose from anti-Catholic sentiment. In colonial Boston there was a surefire way to gather a crowd: hang an effigy, or dummy, of just about any authority figure. Effi…

Someone called in a question to Catholic Answers, on the radio. The caller wanted to know why Catholics can't have their ashes scattered, after they died. The response had to do with our bodies being temples of the Holy Spirit and as such should be treated with respect.

I wasn't satisfied with that answer. I would say that the church desires our cremains to be buried in sacred ground. The human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and as such, should be treated with as much respect as possible. To ensure that the cremains are respected, they should be placed in designated holy areas where people come to pray, places that have been consecrated, like a cemetery.

The Gospel this morning was Matt 17: 22-27. I was surprised to see a lady taking notes during the homily. I know her. I may not know her name, but she is a daily communicant. My point being that she wasn't a "spy", taking notes. She is a serious, religious person.

The Gospel is the story of the temple tax collectors asking Peter if Jesus paid. Father explained that earlier in Jewish history, the Jews paid as much as one third of their income to the temple. They were happy to do so. The temple tax was a significant form of prayer. However, when the Romans came, the temple tax wasn't all for the temple. After the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem, the Romans actually still collected the temple tax and gave it to their pagan god, Jupiter.

The point of the story is not about giving money. It's about God providing. The fish had enough coins in its mouth to pay for two temple taxes.

Here we are, again, at Sunday Snippets -- A Catholic Carnival, which is a place where bloggers link together. The place is a blog entitled, This That And The Other Thing, hosted by R'Ann. We also discuss a question, a week.

This week's question, is when should school start. I think beyond the question. I think the school year should be year round with a break of two months, every five months, run in three cycles. For example: cycle one = Jan. -- May with vacation break being June and July, cycle two = March -- July with a break being in August and September, cycle three = October -- Feb. with a break in March and April. Do you get the idea? In this way, families may choose which vacation would suit their families' life style best.

Vacations and retreats are periods of stress for me. I can't relax. I don't de-stress; I stress more. The thought of all I have to do to catch up from being away is what's stressing. And since I'm on vacation or retreat, I have all the time in the world to think of more things to do, just makes matters worse.

Besides, everyone I love and want to be with, isn't with me. All my favorite things aren't with me. I don't have my pillow! It's not my cooking, which leads to an intestinal adjustment, which isn't pleasant.

Also, the going there and coming home makes me sick. I have motion sickness. My ears suffer excruciating pain when I fly.

Tonight I traveled to St. Dominic's Church in Swansea, Massachusetts. The Mass celebrated the feast of Saint Dominic. It was celebrated by a relative (very distant) of St. Dominic Guzman, Father Joseph Vivieros. Father Vivieros is also a Lay Dominican. After the homily, the congregation witnessed the temporary promises of Mr. Donald Furlong, O.P., from the St. Rose of Lima Chapter. And after the Mass, we had veneration of a relic of Saint Dominic.

Like all good Dominican celebrations. We had food. A buffet supper was served. How's that for a blessed event.

I've known the legend of the monkey and St. Dominic. I've even blogged about it here. But I never heard or read what actually the monkey was saying. Today, on the Catholic Exchange blog, I read a post by Sean Fitzpatrick which gives the monkey's taunt. It's amusing.

Dost thou here
write when all do sleep?O vanity of vanity,To drive men to insanity,With teachings of inanity–Far better would it be to sleep!Dost thou here
muse when all do sleep?O, thou, dim-witted Dominic,Thou dost neglect the poor and sick,For thine own liking dost thou pick–Far better would it be to sleep!

Dost thou here
pray when all do sleep?O scribbling scrabbling Pharisee,Are thy prayers of such qualityThey merit immortality?Far better would it be to sleep!
I enjoy the part where Dominic tries to ignore the pest. Isn't that everyone's first reaction?
Imagine calling Dominic, dim-witted? Or a Pharisee?

I turned the page in my prayer book this morning, and came upon a little slip of paper I had torn out of a magazine. It was titled "Meditation of the Day/How to Think as God Does." The little meditation was about Saint Dominic's Nine Ways of Prayer, written by Pope Benedict XVI.

Obviously, I tore this meditation out because I'm a Lay Dominican, and I put it between the pages dedicated to the Feast of Saint Dominic, August 8. All Dominicans know the nine ways of prayer. There's showing reverence by bowing, prostrating, genuflecting, kneeling, doing penance, adoration, standing in orans position and alleluia position, walking while praying, and lectio divina.

B XVI, however, points out that all Dominic's ways of prayer point to Jesus. Naturally! But also, all these physical movements lead into one kind of prayer. That kind of prayer being deep contemplation.

So very true. My prayer eventually leads to quiet meditation. I talk to God and He talks to me…

My salsa was a hit. Actually, it was Fred's recipe. I'll have to tell him that the Woman's Club loved his salsa.

I guess the planning part went OK. I had everything all planned. The meeting was just for me to tell the Board of Directors what I was doing. Only it didn't work out that way. I'm not quite doing what I wanted to. Changes were made.

This reminded me of teaching. My favorite part of teaching is lesson planning. The worst part of teaching is teaching the kids. Most of the time, the kids didn't stick to my plan. And the younger the kids were, the more my well thought out plans had to change.

Grrr-rrr-rrrr-rrrr

I don't like democracy. I'm more of a benevolent dictator. Now I have to carry out ideas, I don't believe in. We're planning a wine tasting, a craft, a day of recollection, pot luck dinner and a movie night. The fund raising elicited the most discussion. We decided to have one bake sale, a fund raiser with a local…

I left the dog in the car while I went to the library. Afterwards, to make up for my leaving him alone for ten minutes, I took him for a walk. We casually sauntered along the sidewalk, until I saw this sign. So we crossed the street. There was a similar sign, forbidding dogs' peeing.

What's this world coming to, when an animal can perform a natural body function?

At first, I intended to write a scathing article about Dean College not allowing dogs to do what comes natural. Who'd send their student to a college that wouldn't allow dogs to pee? Hmpf!

But being smarter than the average bear, I did a little research before I wrote an article condemning Dean College's curbing canine behavioral practices.

After only five minutes of googling, I couldn't find any documentation supporting my indignation. It seems, my ire was misplaced. I had to admit that I was wrong. Dog's pee is toxic to lawns--quite toxic in fact.

The prayer group was cleaning out all their stuff out of the parish shed. The pastor, Father Diotrophes told them he needed the room. The group didn't realize they had accumulated so much. There were song books, devotional books, prayer books, rosaries, and even things like paper plates and plastic spoons. Most of the stuff was outdated and would be thrown away.

Father Diotrophes came to inspect their work. Unfortunately, a wind came up and slammed the door. Really slammed the door. It was stuck, solid. It wouldn't budge.

The pastor started hollering. The prayer group didn't know what to do. They couldn't open the door.

Their leader, all of a sudden had an idea. They were a prayer group; they would pray.

"Don't worry Father Diotrophes. We're going to pray you out."

So they started their charismatic praying, which led to singing, which led to praying in tongues.

Broken and empty,
Hollowed out like a tomb, barely any room, for life to bloom...
Yet, You call for this to be given,
You've crossed over from the land of the living...
Sin's power has been shriven, the pain you paid...so I could go on living...
So I kneel upon this sacred spot, I see the wounds,
I don't feel so hot, burning and searing like I'm the one, who's been shot...
The bruises for losers,
Nails for those in jail,
The wood's for those who don't live as they should...
Holes of the sinful souls,
Still I kneel upon this sacred spot,
A broken and empty heart is what I've got, still you call for this to be given,
Clean and white like the finest linen, this is the promise you've given, only asking that I, learn to stop, sinning...

R'Ann, the blogger for This And That And The Other Thing, asks what advice to give someone who wants to start a blog. My advice would be to have a purpose. Why do you want to blog? If you are serious, then be faithful. Go and have fun.

The purpose of my blog is to preach. I aim to show that you don't have to be a minister to preach, just an ordinary person can share their faith. Sometimes I share my day; sometimes my thoughts; sometimes something I've come across, e.i., a poem or a story.

A secondary purpose is that I like to write. It used to be poetry, but lately, it's reflections. I try to write everyday, and posting on my blog, keeps me on task.

Today I was attracted to the Eastern Dominican Student Brothers' blog, Dominicana. Br. Timothy Danaher, O.P. writes about how all people are connected. He relates a story about Mother Teresa reminding us about the five fingers:

“Remember the five fingers.” What she meant by this is explained well by a Dominican priest of the Irish province. In a memoir he recounts how on many occasions she asked him to hold his hand, and touching each finger one-by-one, she said, “You did it to me.” This was the secret of her whole spirituality. It’s a simple and sustainable model lifted from the pages of Scripture, and lived out by perhaps the greatest saint of our times. Mother Teresa knew that in loving the most unlovable in our midst – the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger – we love Christ himself.

I don't think Mother Teresa would complicate the five finger prayer. I really think something is lost in translation. The way the "You did it to me." is explained, doesn't …

I was just reading the Dominican student brothers' blog, from the Western Province. Brother Thomas Aquinas Pickett, O.P., wrote an article warning Christians about "selfies." Brother tells us to look at our intentions. Why do we want to take this "selfie"? Isn't it a sign of pride? If so, then the selfie is a hindrance to one's spiritual life. Are you constantly taking "selfies?" Why? To show off?

See what brother is getting at?

Ah....no.

In fact, I feel sorry for Brother Pickett's mother. Didn't he ever shout over to his mother, "Look Ma, no hands!" The purpose of this "shout out" is the same as the "selfie."

"Look Ma, I'm in Italy, see me and the pope."
"Look Ma, I'm in the Holy Land, see me and the Wailing Wall."
"Look Ma, I'm with the President."

Of course, anything can be overdone, but to have one's very first reaction to a "selfie" be…

Faith is a Lay Dominican with a dual apostolate of cyberministry and prison ministry. She blogs here about her "cloistered brothers," her thoughts, spirituality, prayer, and an occasional poem or two.
She also blogs at http://www.21stcenturydominican.com/ She also updates her chapter's blog, Our Lady of Mercy Chapter,http://sites.google.com/site/ourladyofmercychapter/
Lastly, but in no way, of lesser importance, Faith is the general editor of ELUMEN, the internet newsletter for Lay Dominicans in the Eastern Province of St. Joseph. http://www.3op.org/
To subscribe to ELUMEN, contact prouille_1216@comcast.net
May all I do be for the greater glory of God.